ABSTRACT
This chapter explains both where the name Vespa came from and how the idea was actually conceived during World War II to produce a scooter that then came to fruition after the war. In fact, far from this idea appearing out of nowhere in 1946, it owes much to earlier American scooters and the Nazi plan to build a “people’s car” (Volkswagen/Käfer or in English, Beetle). In fact, in the late 1930s the fascist regime launched a discussion in specialized media, the aim of which was to produce a “motorbike for the people” in Italy that could motorize the country on two wheels, just as Germany was doing on four. The aeronautical engineer Corradino D’Ascanio and the company's Managing Director, Enrico Piaggio, came up with a winning idea: the Vespa.
